In the modern economy, a knife is used to perform various tasks - from cooking to cutting out various figures. What to do if all purchased knives do not meet the requirements and do not correspond to the declared characteristics? In this case, you will have to make a knife with your own hands.
On sale you can find a variety of models of knives, which differ in price, quality and shape. Seeing such a choice, you can just get confused. You can find a suitable model, but, as a rule, it will not satisfy all the requirements and expectations of the buyer. If the desired model was not found, and there is no desire to make a knife with your own hands, then you can always turn to a blacksmith. It is worth remembering that handmade such a specialist is very expensive. Making a knife with your own hands from start to finish is not only profitable, but also an exciting activity.
What can be achieved making a blade on your own:
As you can see, making a knife on your own is the most suitable solution. In your work, you can implement any ideas, from the selection of material for the handle, ending with the type of steel, shape and stain, which will cover the handle.
Assortment in stores
What can be found in stores? Among all the finished products, indeed, you can find a worthwhile model. But quality is always worth it big money. In the presented inexpensive assortment there will be knives to which high technical requirements were not imposed.
Most often you can find a blade:
These knives can be found in almost any store, and they are inexpensive. But they fail very quickly, then they are simply thrown away and replaced with a new one. This is not very rational, since most often this tool is used on a hike or fishing, and a poor-quality knife can easily let the owner down at the most inopportune moment.
In order to choose and buy a knife correctly, you need to have minimal knowledge in the field of materials, namely, to navigate the characteristics of steel and mechanical properties finished blade. It is also very important to study the market.
Purpose and types of knives
Before manufacturing, you need to understand what the knife is for. Based on this, you should make a list of the desired characteristics and parameters that apply to the finished product.
There are such types of knives:
Beginners are often mistaken and think that camping and hunting knives are identical. It is impossible to make a universal blade that will cope with all targets with equal success. Tourist knives are necessary for rough work: cutting branches and brushwood. It will be very difficult to cut a carcass with them. The hunting knife is very sharp and hard, but it can be broken if used as a camping knife.
Manufacturing features
First of all, you need to decide on the type of blade. Its specificity, characteristics and purpose will depend on this. When the type of blade required is determined, it is possible to choose the steel for manufacture.
Steel selection
Steel for manufacturing must be chosen wisely, because the type of blade will show maximum performance in only one direction. In the choice of steel the following requirements must be taken into account:
- Hardness, on which the frequency of sharpening will depend.
- Fragility. This indicator decides whether the blade will crumble from hitting a bone or due to a fall.
- Corrosion. It is also important to take into account the fact that camping blades will not be in very favorable conditions. Due to moisture, the product can quickly become rusty.
- Blade wear resistance.
To make a homemade knife, craftsmen use damask steel or Damascus. But these materials are very difficult to work with. For them, it is not enough to have blacksmithing equipment in the form of an anvil and hammer. It is necessary to know the specifics and characteristics of materials. Even an experienced blacksmith will not always be able to do a quality job using Damascus. You can resort to a ready-made blank, but it will be very expensive.
Therefore, for the first and subsequent work, it is better to use alloyed steel. It's much easier to work with her. Types of alloy steel, which are most often used for the blade:
There are many more grades of steel from which a blade can be made. But they are not very common due to their unsuitable indicators.
Stages of work
There are many features in the manufacture of a knife. It is worth paying attention to the work, as sometimes it is not possible to correct errors. Every step is important and must be observed by professionals:
If you already have experience working with metal, then making a normal knife is not difficult. Each subsequent product will be better. Do not be upset if the first knife failed. It is better to take into account all the mistakes and try to do it again. But it is worth remembering that a knife with a large blade is considered a real melee weapon. Therefore, it is first important to figure out which product will be legal.
Most hunters agree that, in addition to a gun, it is necessary to have a knife when hunting. Its purpose is very different: for carcass cutting and protection from the attack of the beast, for various chores - chopping firewood and branches, building a hut, cooking, making other tools and self-defense. Thus, taking into account the functions performed, it can be extremely difficult to purchase a universal knife in a store. But each hunter can build a hunting knife with his own hands, taking into account all individual requirements.
hunting knife
The manufacture of a hunting knife is not available to everyone, because it is necessary to take into account a number of its features. The hunting dagger is a weapon with a short blade. The handle is separated from the blade by a limiter that allows you to protect your hand during a strike. The weapon is designed to cut rather than thrust, so its blade is curved upwards with a large curvature of the cutting edge to make long cuts in one motion. The shank and the blade are a single whole, while only the cutting edge remains sharp, and the second part of the blade is blunt - this is the butt.
The blade is equipped with special grooves that give it rigidity and reduce its weight. Its length is usually 12-15 cm, and its width is 2.5-3 cm. For the manufacture of the dagger, 65G grade stainless carbon steel is used, and R6M5 grade tool steel is often also used. You can learn how to make a hunting knife with your own hands below.
Do-it-yourself hunting knife: video
Before you make a hunting knife, you need to develop detailed drawing all his structural elements. The drawing will help determine the shape and size of the blade, handle, limiter, and scabbard.
The manufacturing process at home includes several stages, the complexity of this process can be estimated after watching videos and photos.
First of all, you need to decide on the shape, size of the knife, for this, sketch a sketch on paper, thus creating a detailed drawing.Hunting knife sketch
The choice of material. To make a homemade hunting knife, it is not necessary to have a R6M5 steel bar on hand. You can use the items that are made from it: these are cutters, cutters, hacksaw blade. It is best to use the latter option, namely, a blade from a pendulum saw for metal with a thickness of 2 mm, a length of 400-500 mm, and a width of about 30-40 mm. The material must be even. Please note that with a butt thickness of 2 mm and a blade length of 150 mm, such a homemade hunting knife will not be a melee weapon, since it complies with GOST R No. 51644-2000. For the manufacture of the handle, wood from birch, beech, maple, cherry, pear, mahogany is suitable.
After the material is selected, a sketch of the dagger must be applied to the hacksaw blade.
The workpiece is processed on a hacksaw, turning along the contour. It is important not to forget to make the transition from the blade to the semicircular shank. So that the material does not overheat, periodically you need to dip it in cool water.
Pre-turning the slopes is carried out on an emery machine with a coarse-grained tape.
Sanding the blade
The hole for the rivet is quite difficult to make with a drill, or a drill bit. But this can be done using the electrolysis reaction. The electrolyte is water with salt diluted in it. To supply electricity, a 27-volt DC source is used. A circle is cut in place of the hole, the shank is placed in the electrolysis solution. After three hours, a hole is formed, which must be processed with a needle file.
Then you need to harden the steel of the knife. To do this, it is placed in the oven, then in oil and again in the oven. After that, the scale is removed on a coarse-grained sandpaper, the butt is processed and the required thickness of the cutting edge is formed. At this stage, it is also important to periodically cool the steel.
Processing the blade with sandpaper of less grit
The blade is polished with sandpaper, water and lapping. Processing is carried out in the opposite direction to the previous one.
The blade is polished with a trowel paste and a felt grinding wheel.
Sleeve manufacturing. A sleeve is cut out of brass or bronze by boring holes with a drill, put on the handle close to the blade. Before making the handle, a piece of leather is placed between it and the sleeve - it serves to prevent moisture from entering the place where the handle is attached to the blade, as well as to fix them more firmly.
How to make a hunting knife at home: making a handle
Handle making
A photo of do-it-yourself hunting knives suggests that most often the handles are made of wood. It fits comfortably in the hand, comfortable when used in the winter in the cold.
It is necessary to make a blank from a wooden block, on one side of which make an even cut to fit the bushing, and on the other, drill a cavity to accommodate the shank. It is also necessary to drill a hole for the rivet on one side. With the help of epoxy glue, the handle is mounted on the shank, a brass rod is inserted in place of the hole for the rivet, its excess part is cut off and soldered. The surface of the wooden handle is processed and polished. It can be oiled to protect the surface of the wood, or varnished. For the convenience and safety of carrying weapons, you can make a scabbard. In this case, you can use the same tree, for example, birch bark, or leather. At the same time, guides for the knife are formed inside the sheath, as well as a hole for water drainage, metal rings for attaching to the belt.
With such a knife, hunting will bring only pleasure.
Warning!
This article is written solely in the interests of the author to convey information to people about how knives are made, what they are and what they can be used for. That the right knife can become your friend and comrade, who will help you out more than once.
If you dear readers decide to make a knife with your own hands, then keep in mind that in Russian Federation, there is a law: Article 222 of the Criminal Code, Part 4 and Article 223 of the Criminal Code, Part 4. Illegal sale and manufacture of edged weapons is a criminal offense and that any product must be certified. And if you get to the lawyers with such a product, such excuses as “I didn’t know” will not save you. (It’s better to say - “I found it for you to hand over.” And mentally say goodbye to your favorite product.)
So many people, having made a knife exclusively, in self-educational motives, got into trouble with the law. Keep this in mind.
Types of steel for knives
What is steel. Steel is iron with various additives ( chemical composition alloy) is quite simple iron with carbon content. There are three layers of laminated steel from different grades. There is a Damascus sandwich made of hundreds of layers of steel, two three grades of steel, more often than two.
What steel to choose for a knife and where to get it?
This table shows the most suitable steels for making knives that you can find at your fingertips.
| steel grade | Description | Where to find |
| A-2 | Holds a sharp edge very well. Self hardening steel. Very often used in the manufacture of combat knives. Subject to corrosion. | Regular bolts |
| L-6 | Very strong and holds an edge well. If you need strength in a knife, then this is it. Corrosion resistant An excellent material for making a fishing fillet knife. |
Band saw blade |
| 5160 | High grade steel. Holds an edge well and is susceptible to corrosion. | Springs of automobiles and tractor equipment. |
| 52100 | Similar to grade 5160, it differs in carbon content, which is indicated by the number 100 (contains about 1% carbon) This steel is widely used in the manufacture of hunting knives. subject to corrosion. | Bearings |
| R6M5 | The best steel for making alloy steel knives. Excellent sharpening, cuts very well, cuts the bone. | Pendulum saw blade for metal. Thickness 2mm. Disc cutter for metal. Thickness 5 mm. |
| 154CM or ATS-34 (ATS-34) | The most popular stainless steel for making knives. | To order: the price is approximately 3500 rubles per strip 3x25x250 |
Blade shapes.
Combat or tactical knife of its features.
Combat knife handle.
An extremely negative characteristic of the knife handle is its round section. Because the handle during the fight can slip and the fighter will not be able to control the exact position of the blade. And imagine that a fighter is wielding a knife in slush conditions, or even worse, bloodied. So when choosing a knife, pay attention to the handle, it should be oval, have special lining and sit well in your hand.
Sharpening.
A combat knife is most effective when it has a two-sided sharpening or one and a half. A fighter during the battle can use both sides of the blade without turning it over.\
Blade width.
Also, for a combat knife, the width of the blade is very important, which should be at least 2.5 centimeters. This primarily contributes to wide wounds, and secondly, wide slopes reduce the angle of sharpening, which is responsible for cutting properties.
Blade shape.
The importance of blade shape should not be overlooked. The optimal shape is the shape of a leaf or a leaf-shaped shape, and if it is made with differential sharpening, plus serrated sharpening plays a good role in combat knives.
Limiter.
Any combat knife has a limiter; its function is to protect the hand during stabbing. That is, it does not allow the hand to slip onto the blade during impact.
Knife length.
This is also an important thing in combat knives. Judge for yourself if the knife is short, then during the blow they will not be hit vitally important organs the meaning of a combat knife is lost. A knife that is too long is easy to knock out of your hand, hard to carry and hard to hide. So the optimal length of the knife is 18-30 centimeters.
Blade hardness.
This feature applies not only to combat knives, but to all knives in general, if the steel of the blade is not hard enough, then it will either break or bend and not keep sharpening quickly dull. In combat knives, it is necessary to overcome the material of special clothing which Lately almost all the armies of the world are supplied. For example, the Ratnik 3 outfit has a fabric that can withstand fragmentation loads. Judge for yourself how hard and sharp the blade should have. According to the norms, it should be at least 47-55 HRC.
The location of the tip in relation to the axis.
The edge of the knife must be strictly at the level of its axis. After all, during a stabbing blow with a knife, all the energy is focused precisely on the tip of the knife, and the displacement from the axis will have a negative effect on the knife; the penetrating ability is lost.
Knife weight.
The optimal weight of the knife is considered to be about 200-300 grams. If the knife is heavy, then it will take a lot of effort to use it, and a light one will not give a result when struck.
Center of gravity.
It is important that the center of gravity of the knife is closer to the handle.
Sheath requirements.
The sheath should be: light, without fasteners, the sheath knife should be securely fastened in the sheath and not fall out, the sheath should be dark in color. The fastening of the scabbard should not interfere with the fighter's movement. The knife should be taken out of the sheath silently.
Combat knives of Russia
“By looking through the chronicle texts, you can find a lot of evidence that Russian people have been able to use knives in battle since those times. What is the description of the siege of the city of Kozelsk by Batu Khan. When entering the city with a fight, he was met by the townspeople with knives, they overcame the course of the battle in their favor, drove the enemy out of the city and slaughtered 4000 Tatars. Since those times, little has changed in the Russian spirit and the knife. When the foreign military considers a knife a "weapon of last chance", that is, during a battle it is the last hope for salvation. Then a Russian person has a knife and a bayonet, which plays a completely different role. Shouts of cheers and the tip of the bayonet always terrified and feared the enemy.
The progenitor of the Russian combat knife of the army is considered to be a knife (army knife of 1940), (scout knife of 1940). These knives were armed with the military, who had a machine gun instead of a rifle with a bayonet, and the scouts themselves understand why.
Now you can find new knives made by analogy, they are produced by the AiR company under the product name "Reconnaissance Battalion" - hunting and "Shtrafbat" - civilian version.
It is produced in four versions: Airborne, Marine, Border Troops, Special Forces. The difference lies in the emblems of the troops that are applied to the blades and the color of the stripes on the handle.
At the same time, 1940, they began to produce for the NKVD services.
In 1943, the HP-40 knife underwent many changes and Soviet intelligence officers got into service HP-43. It was with a straight guard, a leather sheath, a plastic handle and a metal pommel that allowed it to be used in many rough power moments (even to hammer a nail) the second name of the knife is Cherry. The knife was so well designed and thought out that it is still used in some troops.
In 1960, to replace the HP-43 knife, the special service entered a silent cartridge firing from the handle with a 7.62 mm caliber bullet. NRS (scout knife shooting). This knife has also undergone changes, becoming which at the moment is the main combat knife of sabotage brigades. Its scabbard is designed in a special way and allows you to bite the wire, the blade, unlike the NRS, has become spear-shaped, the saw on the butt has become two times shorter. The cartridge in the handle was replaced with a modernized SP-4.
Soviet paratroopers, at that time, were completed which were intended for cutting the lines of a paratrooper hanging on a tree. The sling cutter was not intended for combat, but the military, sharpening the tip and one side of the saw, repurposed this item into
Since those times, the government, money, a lot has changed, various gadgets have appeared, knives have not stood still either. They were made according to various orders of the army and internal units of the troops.
These knives include - this knife was produced by Zlatoust by order of SOBR, which exists in three variations of a combat knife, premium and civilian.
— designed for law enforcement agencies of the FSB is available in two types "Swipe-1" and "Maestro" the handle of which can be made of various materials. "Maestro"- differs in that it is made in anti-reflective design.
Knife "Antiterror"- made for the FSB. The shape of the blade has high penetrating characteristics, the cutting part has a cavity, which increases the length of the cutting edge.
Combat knives series. Knives of this series differ from each other in the following ways:
"Katran -1" underwater combat knife has one and a half sharpening. The butt has a wave-like sharpening in the root part of the butt there is a hook designed for cutting nets. The scabbard is made of rubber and all metal parts are covered with black chrome.
"Katran -1-S"- designed for ground forces. Made of steel 50X14 MF with anti-reflective treatment.
"Katran -2"- Leather grip.
"Katran-45"— exclusive specially made for the 45th Airborne Regiment Has a metal saw on the butt.
- the knife is designed and made by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan. It has a double-sided sharpening in the root part, the sharpening turns into a sereytor one designed for cutting climbing slings, a septenary guard, a handle from a set of leather, there is a modification of Shaitan-M (throwing knife) that can withstand up to 3000 throws.
designed and made by order of SOBR for work on the streets and in cramped conditions.
adopted by the FSB
Popular abroad knife Corsair. He fascinated the Germans with his form and execution. The catalogs describe it as one of the best knives in Russia.
A stalker knife, or which in shape so resembles a sling cutter modified on the knee by paratroopers. By the way, this knife is used by the Slovak military.
The development of the company "Melita-K" which took HP-43 as a basis.
This knife was developed by one person in collaboration with the Center for Applied Research. It was developed for saboteurs, taking into account the specifics of hand-to-hand combat. Tested on animal carcasses. The goal was also to find the optimal knife with a stopping effect when stabbed with a knife.
Knife or K-2. An ideal knife created taking into account all the requirements of our legislation so as not to classify it as a melee weapon. The tests carried out on this knife are somewhat impressive and take special pride for the fact that this knife was developed by a Russian man without any large investments. And with all this, the knife surpasses all foreign knives in terms of characteristics and has no analogues in the world.
The knife is designed for ordinary people, even for a child. The main purpose of the knife is self-defense.
Popular foreign combat knives
I did not begin to write out all the knives that are abroad, if this is done, then the article will be more than one tens of thousands of words. You just get tired of reading it. And so here are the most popular combat knives that are found abroad.
Bowie knife
Wood processing for knife handle
For woodworking, you will need sanding paper with a grit of 120-150 for shaping, you can use 40-60 just do not overdo it, for the final processing use sanding paper with a grit of 600-800. Prepare a couple of wooden blocks that are comfortable to hold in your hand. On one of the bars, fix a plate of dense rubber with a thickness of at least 3 mm. after which you can wrap the band of sanding paper and start grinding the knife handle. The second bar, already without rubber, will also be used at the junction of the blade guard with the handle (this is done so that there are no differences between the blade and the handle).
Here are perhaps the most simple tools which can be adapted without significant costs and begin to process your future handle.
When sanding light wood species, at the end of the whole work, in order to avoid the ingestion of small particles formed from sanding paper, it is necessary to use the wet sanding method. The essence of this grinding is the constant impregnation linseed oil wood, which not only prevents the ingestion of small particles, but also contributes to a brighter highlighting of the texture and pattern of wood. Impregnation with linseed oil should be done with each change of sanding paper. At the very end, after grinding, the handle is impregnated with shellac.
If porous wood is being processed, and any root wood can belong to it, shells can form, which the craftsmen simply rub with epoxy glue, having previously mixed it with sawdust of the same type of wood.
Birch knife handle
One of the popular handles is the birch bark knife handle. It does not look bad, gives a peculiar pattern or texture, so to speak.
The principle of preparing the blank is almost the same everywhere, they harvest birch bark, remove it from the birch (the birch dies after a few seasons). They cut the birch bark into even pieces, they are pressed, squeezed, glued, after drying they are processed as ordinary tree, a deliberately mounted blank on the blade or a special device.
Not long ago I saw unusual way which speeds up the preparation of a blank for a birch bark handle, I will try to describe it in detail.
One master told how to make a knife handle from birch bark. Having prepared birch bark, he cuts small circles out of it with the help of. The notch is made from the outer ring of the bearing with an end face sharpened on one side. With this notch, he fills a lot of circles from birch bark, after which he knocks out a hole in the circles in the center in the same way (the center is not specially measured) with a diameter of 8 mm. Further, all the prepared mugs of birch bark, he puts on a length of about 20 cm. tries to plant the side, not to turn over to the side. After that, it clamps with washers and nuts, stretches and sends such a workpiece to a pot of boiling water for 4 hours. Every hour it is necessary to get the workpiece and stretch it as far as possible. After 4 hours of welding, the workpiece is taken out and dried during the day, while the broach must be repeated while the nut is being pulled. After the birch bark dries out, the workpiece decreases in length by almost half (keep this in mind when making the initial set of circles). After such procedures for cooking and broaching, the workpiece becomes monolithic, which was required of it. Now remove the workpiece from the hairpin, you can put it on the blade shank and process it as you like.
Very comfortable and most importantly fast way preparation of a handle for a knife from birch bark.
The process of preparing a blank for a knife handle is described above. Further, naturally, according to all the canons, it is necessary to process it with sanding paper, impregnate it with varnish, as indicated above, in the section on how to prepare a wooden knife handle.
The handle of the knife is made of bone or horn.
This is the most difficult occupation, making a knife handle from bone or horn. In order to make a handle from a horn, you need to make a handle from some other material at least a couple of times.
If you are thinking of making a horn hilt, then you will need the HORN naturally, and it must be dried. It usually dries from 0.5 to 2 years. There is a faster way, it is simply dried in the microwave for 5 minutes for half an hour at maximum power, allowing it to cool and ventilate beforehand. Of course, not the whole horn is dried, but only the workpiece.
In general, an incorrectly chosen horn can initially cause you a lot of trouble. It can get wet, rotten inside, cracked. And all this pops up at the most inopportune moment.
Also, the handle can be made from hollow bone. The bone cavity can be previously filled with cold welding or epoxy glue with pre-prepared filler. The bone is also easily deformed under pressure; it must first be boiled for 30 minutes and sent to the press without waiting for cooling.
Types of sharpening and removal of descents
In order to properly sharpen the blade, you first need to know that it needs to be stabbed before sharpening, because for the future blade it takes from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm in thickness, depending on the type of steel. Secondly, you should not sharpen a knife on electric emery. The circle rotates at high speed, reaching 3000 rpm. From such a rotation speed, not only a significant layer of the descent of the workpiece is processed, but also loses its hardness.
There are many ways to take the slopes off the blade, someone uses diamond files, someone uses a grinding belt on the machine, one of these is correct, until the angular requirement is met, the result cannot be achieved. For beginners in such cases, sharpening sets that allow you to adjust the required angles are helpful.
During sharpening, burrs are formed, the edge is filled up or the creation of a lentil-shaped profile, which must be processed, because such an edge quickly becomes dull or sits down. There are two ways to fix this, it is to use a special grinding stone with paste or the old-fashioned way a leather belt mounted on a wooden block with a pastogo attached to a wooden block.
Also, a beginner may mistakenly think that the knife is sharpened due to the formation of a “wire cutting edge”, this feature lies in the cutting part not of the blade itself, but of the chips that were not completely cleaned and which formed as a result of sharpening.
How to check the sufficiency of sharpening a knife. You can check the sharpness of the knife sharpening using a sheet of paper that needs to be cut across. The sheet should be cut easily without jamming or changing the cut. Or can you just take the hair and effortlessly cut it off the hair is cut? means sharpening is sufficient.
Today, even with such a large assortment of different knives of excellent quality from well-known manufacturers, knives hand forged are still extremely popular. This is not surprising, since such knives have a special energy and attractiveness. And if the blade itself is made of alloyed steel and with skill, then such a knife is priceless. From various ways handmade knife the most time-consuming is forging a knife with your own hands. It should be noted that forging a knife allows you to create the most durable and high-quality blade that will last for decades and at the same time retain its qualities. Forging a knife with your own hands is a business that requires the master to have a high level of tool skills, knowledge of metals and their properties. For those who decide to forge a knife for the first time, the recommendations described below will help you make your first blade.
How to choose knife steel
A high-quality home-made knife is distinguished by the correct selection of steel for it, the cutting and strength characteristics of the knife itself will depend on this. To choose the right steel, you need to know and understand what properties the steel itself has. To forge a knife with your own hands, you need to focus on five basic properties of steel - wear resistance, hardness, strength, toughness, red hardness.
Hardness- this is a property of steel, indicating its ability to resist the penetration of another more solid material. Simply put, hard steel resists deformation better. The hardness index itself is measured on the Rockwell scale and has a value from 20 to 67 HRC.
Wear resistance- resistance of the material to wear during operation. This property directly depends on the hardness of the steel itself.
Strength indicates the ability to maintain integrity under the influence of various external forces. You can check the strength for bending or with a strong impact.
Plastic- the ability of steel to absorb and dissipate kinetic energy during impact and deformation.
Red hardness- this is an indicator responsible for the resistance of steel to temperatures and the preservation of its original qualities when heated. The minimum temperature at which it can be forged depends on how resistant the steel is to heat treatment. The most red-resistant steels are hard grades, working temperature forgings for which more than 900 °C. It should be noted that the melting point of steel is 1450 - 1520 °C.
All these properties are interconnected and the predominance of one of them leads to the deterioration of the other. In this case, one or another property of steel depends on the content of various alloying elements and additives in it, such as silicon, carbon, chromium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum.
The presence of certain alloying elements and their proportional use in the manufacture of steel, knowledge of the properties that alloying elements and additives give, made it possible to create steel for certain purposes and needs. Such steels each have their own marking. At the same time, domestic and foreign steel grades are designated differently. For convenience, the steel grade indicates the main composition of one or more alloying elements. For example, steel grade U9 indicates the carbon content in it in tenths of a percent. An analogue of steel grade "U" is steel 10xx, where "xx" is the carbon content. And than less value, the smaller its content. Or such steel as X12MF indicates a high content of chromium and molybdenum, which indicates the stainless and high-strength properties of the steel.
Domestic grades, which are often used when forging knives at home, include all steels marked from U7 before U16, ShKh15, 65G, R6M5, H12MF. Steel can be distinguished from foreign analogues O-1, 1095 , 52100 ,M-2, A-2, 440C, AUS, ATS-34, D-2. Each of the above brands is used in the manufacture of knives, various tools and spare parts. For example, steel grades R6M5, U7-U13, 65G are used for the production of drills, drills, cables, springs, bearings, files. Therefore, it is from these items that craftsmen make hand-forged knives.
Of course, you can find other products from one steel or another. To do this, it will be enough to read Full description steel grade and its use in the Grade of Steel and Alloys, and then use the product from it for forging a knife.
Forging a knife will require a certain blacksmith tool, which can be purchased at the store. But you can also use a non-professional tool:
- a hammer for 3 - 4 kg and a hammer of less weight up to 1 kg;
- blacksmith's tongs or ordinary pliers, but without insulation on the handles, as well as an adjustable wrench;
- vise;
- anvil or its homemade analogue from an I-beam;
- grinder and welding machine;
- grinder;
- bake.
If everything is more or less clear with a conventional tool, then some explanations need to be made about the furnace. The thing is that in a conventional hearth it is difficult to get a temperature of more than 900 ° C. Yes, and the workpiece will warm up there for ages. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the focus a little. If you have not previously been involved in at least hardening of metal, then you will have to make a small furnace from thick-walled metal from scratch. Then attach a pipe to it, through which air will flow with a fan or an old vacuum cleaner. In this simple way, you can get a fairly reliable crucible for bringing blanks to a temperature of 900 - 1200 ° C. The fuel used is ordinary charcoal, preferably one that gives as much heat as possible and burns longer.
Before starting the work itself, it is necessary to do sketch the knife itself.
In fact, a knife is a fairly simple item, consisting of a blade and a handle. But each of these elements has a whole set of components. On the photo demonstrating the design of the knife, you can see all the elements of the knife and what they are called.
It is also necessary to know about some of the main blade profiles in order to make the most suitable sketch. The photo below shows the profiles of the knives.
Having chosen the most suitable profile for you, you can safely start creating a sketch. Of course, experienced craftsmen do without a sketch, but for a beginner it is still important to make a sketch and keep it in front of your eyes during the forging process.
Forging a knife from a drill
Drills have gained great popularity in forging knives due to the P6M5 alloy steel used in them, which is durable, easy to sharpen and wear resistant.
When choosing a drill for forging, one thing should be noted important point. Large drills consist of a working spiral part made of P6M5 and a shank made of ordinary steel. Small drills are usually made entirely of P6M5. When forging a knife from a large drill, you must immediately determine where which steel is and where the border is between them. This can be done quite simply, just a little drill along the entire length. Where there is ordinary steel, the sheaf of sparks will be large and yellow-orange. But where the alloy steel is, the sheaf will be sparse and closer to a reddish tint. The procedure described above is necessary in order to determine where the blade will begin at the knife, and where the shank. Having finished with this, we move on to the forging itself.
initially make a fire in the oven, connect the blower and wait for the coals to flare up strong enough, after which put the drill in the crucible. But we do this with the help of tongs and so that the shank for the most part remains out of the fire.
Important! When forging a knife for the first time, you can not immediately determine when the metal has heated up to the required temperature. As a result, more than one drill can be damaged. Therefore, before taking on the forging of a drill, you can practice a little with heating and forging metal on conventional fittings. At the same time, it is necessary to remember what color the metal was and when it was forged most gently. It is also worth remembering that in sunlight, even a metal heated to 1100 ° C will look dark.
Once the drill will heat up to the desired temperature, and over 1000 °С, its immediately needed take out of the furnace, and clamp the bottom of the shank in a vise. Then take the adjustable wrench, clamp the top of the drill with it and make a circular motion, straightening the spiral. Everything must be done quickly so that the metal does not have time to cool, otherwise you risk breaking the drill. If you can't do it all at once, no big deal. Just re-heat the drill and repeat the procedure. The result should be relatively flat strip metal.
The next step will be drill forging and rolling metal to an acceptable thickness. Everything is pretty simple here. Having heated the metal to the required temperature, we take a heavy hammer and begin to level the metal with strong but uniform blows and give it an even shape. The result should be a strip of metal with a thickness of about 4 - 5 mm.
Important! When forging metal, it is necessary to constantly monitor the color of the workpiece. As soon as it began to fade, acquiring a cherry color, we immediately return it to the forge. It is better to heat the metal once again than to break it under the blow of a hammer.
Further knife edge forged. Here everything is somewhat more complicated. The fact is that it is necessary to give a rounded shape and at the same time maintain the required thickness of the blade. All work is almost jewelry and will require a certain dexterity. Forging is carried out in such a way that gradually rounding the tip, the blade is gradually pulled in length. Strikes should be strong, but accurate. A beginner may not succeed the first time, but a little practice will fix everything.
The next step will be knife edge forging. This is a rather important and difficult stage. This will require a lighter hammer and preferably with a rounded head. Starting from the middle of the blade, gradually move the metal down to the cutting edge. We try to make the cutting edge as thin as possible. At the same time, we make sure that the blade itself remains straight and even. We apply blows very carefully and try to apply only as much effort as is required for a slight deformation of the hot metal. We remember the color of the workpiece and, if necessary, send it back to the crucible.
After forging the blade and point, move on to shank forging. The work itself will be much easier than when forging a blade. First, we heat up the round shank of the drill and then roll it out with strong hammer blows. Depending on the sketch, the shank can be either narrow or wide. Here, someone likes to make a knife handle. Someone makes simple overlays, and someone makes a typesetting handle.
Upon completion of forging, let the metal cool gradually and then move on to sanding. On the grinding machine remove excess layers of metal and irregularities, making the knife perfectly smooth and shiny. When grinding, it can take up to 2 mm of thickness, and the knife will become much lighter and thinner. Also at this stage, you can sharpen the knife. Finally, we harden the knife. How this is done will be written below.
Forging a knife from a drill video review:
Another popular material for forging knives is the bearing, namely its inner or outer rim. And internal is even more preferable. All work on forging a knife from a bearing is almost identical to forging from a drill. With some exception.
First, we cut out the blank from the bearing rim using a grinder. We try to take the length with a margin, so that there is enough for the knife and another 1 - 2 cm remains. Secondly, at the initial stage of forging, the cut blank should be welded to the reinforcement bar. And in this form, glow and forge. Thirdly, if in the case of a drill, the workpiece was rolled from round to flat, then for the bearing cage it simply needs to be aligned. And further steps for forging the blade itself and the shank are completely similar. The only thing worth noting is that it is still more convenient to make a knife with overhead handles from a bearing.
Forging a knife from a bearing video review:
In search of the right steel for a quality knife, many use a spring. The metal of this car part is highly resilient and durable, making it an excellent example for hand forged knives. In fairness, it should be noted that a knife from a spring can also be made by simply cutting out a knife profile with further sharpening and hardening. But still, in order for the knife to be really reliable, it is better to forge it, especially since the thickness of the spring is large enough, and for a good knife it should be reduced.
We start forging a knife from a spring by cleaning the grinder from rust and marking the plate. Only a small part of the spring will be required, so having noted it, we cut it off with the help of a grinder. Next, we weld the workpiece to the fittings and heat it up. Then we gradually forge, bringing to the required thickness. We forge the point and the cutting edge, how to do this is described above using the example of forging a knife from a drill. Having achieved the desired, leave the knife to cool gradually and then grind and sharpen it.
Forging a knife from a spring video review:
Forging a knife from a file
Wear-resistant and durable steel can be found in various plumbing tools and a file is a prime example of this. Making knives from a file is quite a popular activity. Moreover, the blades are extremely durable with an excellent cutting edge. But forging a knife from a file has its own characteristics.
First of all, you need to clean the file from notches and possible rust. You can do this with a grinder. Next, if necessary, cut off the workpiece of the required length from the file. Then we weld it to a piece of reinforcement and put it into the crucible. Having heated the workpiece to the desired temperature, we proceed to rolling the workpiece to the thickness we need. Then we make a point and a cutting edge. The shank of a knife from a file is best done under the overhead handle.
Forging a knife from a file video review:
Forging a knife from a rope
Making a knife from a steel cable is pretty a rare thing. Since, unlike all the blanks described above, the cable is a scattered fiber of wire, and it is quite difficult to forge them. In addition, the steel of the cable does not have such high characteristics as the steel of the drill or file. For the most part, rope knives are forged because of their unusual pattern on the wedge, vaguely reminiscent of Damascus steel. In order to make such a knife, it is necessary to make a little more effort than when forging from a regular steel bar.
Forging a knife from a cable begins, like regular forging. Here are just a few little secrets. First, it concerns the shank. Many craftsmen make a knife shank from a cable in the form of a finished handle. It looks very unusual and beautiful. And here there are two approaches in the manufacture of the handle. Take a thick cable and then weld its end, making it a monolithic piece. Or make a handle in the shape of a loop, and forge a blade from the ends. Secondly, forging a cable is a difficult task because of the scattered wires that make up the cable. To make a knife, you need to weld them together. And this is a whole art and it’s not worth counting on a knife from a cable the first time. Welding can be done in two ways. The first is to weld by electric welding along large grooves. The second is to perform blacksmith welding. The second option is more difficult and at the same time preferable.
So, having chosen a method for creating a handle, we proceed to forging a knife. To do this, heat the cable to a bright red color. Then take it out and sprinkle with borax. Then we send it back to the crucible. In this simple way, preparation for forge welding is carried out. is a salt of tetraboric acid and is used by craftsmen to weld individual layers of steel. In fact, it is a flux that facilitates the melting process and protects the molten metal from oxygen and eliminates metal oxides. Bura can be found in the public domain without any problems.
After the cable has been treated with borax on all sides and it has heated up from 900 to 1200 ° C or more, we take it out of the furnace and begin to forge. We strike with a heavy hammer, but at the same time we try to keep the fibers of the cable together. The complexity of forging the cable is precisely in this. But with practice, you can achieve acceptable results. In the end, the cable can be heated and forged as many times as you like. But at the same time, each time, heating it in the forge, sprinkle the cable with brown. The result is a monolithic piece of steel, consisting of many layers, almost like Damascus steel. After that, it remains only to forge the blade of the required shape. On the videos demonstrating the forging of knives, it has already been shown more than once how exactly the blade is rolled out, the cutting edge and the point are created.
Hardening and tempering of the blade
As noted earlier, hardening a knife is one of the most important stages in its manufacture. After all, it is on how correctly it was performed that the performance of the knife depends. The hardening process itself is carried out after the knife has cooled down and has been ground on a grinding machine.
It begins with its heating from light red to orange. After that, the knife is lowered into water or oil. At the same time, 2-3 tablespoons of table salt per 1 liter are added to the water, and the water temperature should be 18-25 ° C, oil 25-30 ° C. Hardening is carried out quite quickly and in order for everything to go well after hardening, the blade must be released. The hardening of steel itself occurs in the temperature range from 750 to 550 °C. The moment of hardening can even be felt when the steel begins to "tremble and moan" in the liquid. As soon as the process ends, the blade must be removed and allowed to cool naturally.
Blade Release performed after hardening. The process itself involves the weakening of the internal stress of steel, which makes it more flexible and resistant to various kinds of loads. Before you make a vacation, the blade should be cleaned of possible scale and then reheated. But the temperature during the holiday is much lower. The knife itself must already be held above the flame and observed. As soon as the entire surface is covered with a yellow-orange film, remove the knife from the fire and let it cool naturally.
Sometimes quenching and tempering is done with oil or water, and sometimes through oil into water. Such hardening is carried out very quickly. First, the blade is lowered into oil for 2 - 3 seconds, and then into water. With this approach, the risk of hardening incorrectly is minimal.
Forging a knife with your own hands only seems like a simple task. In addition to the fact that you have to wave the blacksmith's hammer quite a lot, it may not be possible to forge a knife the first time without experience in forging metal. Therefore, you first need to fill your hand and practice a little, and then start forging a knife.
On the cold steel market, there are many various kinds knives, but there are still people who want to make their own knife at home. And rightly so, because it will be exclusively their product, original and not like others.
This article will help a beginner to understand the knife making business in the absence of special conditions and tell you how to choose the right materials for making knives and tell you in general terms what to do with them, so don’t judge strictly 🙂
To make a knife at home from start to finish, you will need:
- blade or material for its manufacture;
- materials for the handle;
- additional parts for the manufacture of pommel, guard, bolster - or ready-made from the store;
- fasteners (depending on the manufacturing strategy - epoxy, screws, etc.)
Blade for making a knife
To begin with, consider the question of what needs to be done with the blade. Firstly, making it yourself at home will be extremely problematic - if you do not have the opportunity to forge the blade yourself, therefore best solution will buy ready-made, for example, a Lauri 125 blade made of carbon steel.
Where to buy a blade for making a knife?
There are quite a few sources selling a blade prepared for home-made knives: you can buy them both from private craftsmen at the same guns.ru or at cold steel exhibitions, buy blades in other online stores; or you can order an industrial blade from the manufacturer, including on Chinese auction sites, such as ebay or aliexpress.
There are very high-quality and inexpensive catalogs of blades from Finnish (and indeed Scandinavian) manufacturers, I can recommend them.
If you really have difficulty finding a suitable blade, just take a sheet of metal, for example, a sawn off piece of a spring, give it a shape and work with it.
Of course, the purchased blade should be finalized. To do this, you need to take a file or even a circle and coarse water stones (if your product is very “raw” and you still need to remove the descents) and hone the blade to the desired look and shape, and then sand all the bumps with sandpaper.
The easiest way to check the quality of the product is to wipe the finished blade and breathe on it. From a quality blade, perspiration will come off without any irregularities, and it will lie without breaks. At the same time, it is better to conduct such an experiment several times and from different angles.
What steel to make a knife from - questions for other articles, you can read the materials on our website, for example, an article.
DIY knife handle
Next, we will deal with the future handle of your knife. It is best and easiest to take a tree for her, since in the future the wooden handle of a self-made knife will look nice, and the hand will not freeze from it. Absolutely any type of tree is suitable - especially since you are just learning.
The simplest do-it-yourself knife handle is made from old legs Soviet tables, chairs, sofas or armchairs, because before the furniture was made famously. Using a hacksaw, we saw off a piece of the desired length, then roughly cut out the shape of the handle that we would like to see on the finished product. It is also necessary to make a recess in the handle for the shank of your blade - for example, drill and process with needle files. Whether this hole is through or not through depends on finished construction knife.
Ideally, you would also need to draw an approximate drawing of a knife that is made at home. You already have a blade for this and the approximate dimensions and outlines of the handle. And according to the drawn layout, it will already be easier to make a finished knife, bringing it to perfection with sandpaper after assembly.
If you already more or less know how to make a knife with your own hands, you can buy bars of stabilized wood (you will get very beautiful and strong handles), or try to make a handle from typesetting birch bark or pressed leather; you can make a braided handle - there are a lot of options. Go to the next level of "knife building", so to speak 🙂
Important details for making a knife at home
In addition to these two main parts of the knife, there are also additional elements:
Garda - a part specially designed to protect the hand of the owner of the knife. You can make it from metal or wood, or buy it ready-made in specialized stores. You can make a knife without a guard or a combat stop at all - such a knife is not a melee weapon.
Bolster - serves both to decorate the knife and to rid the handle of excessive load. It can be made from wood or metal - for example, make a bolster from a coin or a soldering iron tip.
The pommel is opposite to the blade, performs such functions as: changing the balance of the finished knife, aesthetic function (for beauty). Also, the pommel often plays the role of a nut that is screwed onto the shank (if you have a through one). The pommel of the knife handle is made from various materials - but it is better to stick to a single style.
Knife assembly
Having considered all the details of the future knife, putting everything together, preparing and processing the constituent ingredients of this “recipe” a little, you can turn directly to the knife assembly itself. To do this, you need a few more simple things: sandpaper for finishing handles and polishes finished product, two types of binary glue (epoxy and “cold welding”), a hammer or mallet, paper tape (to seal - to protect the blade and other polished metal parts of the assembled knife from scratches when sanding the handle and giving the homemade knife a completed shape).
First you need to dilute the epoxy and coat the leather gasket with it, which we then apply to that part of the blade that will be inside the tree - the shank. Next, “cold welding” is cut and quickly placed on the bottom of the hole drilled in the handle for the tail of the blade, where it is actually inserted.
Gently driving the blade inward with a hammer or mallet, you will give the knife final view. For a while, it would be ideal to clamp the assembled knife with a clamp while the epoxy hardens. In the end, a knife made with your own hands at home will only have to be sanded and decorated at your discretion.
as more simple option it is possible to make an overhead handle - from two plates (wooden, for example), which are attached to the blade shank on the right and left. Such a handle is usually fastened with screws, in addition to epoxy, but usually looks simpler.
When you have shaped the handle perfectly and ensured that your homemade knife- you can start making 🙂
